A new precision farming specialist, Sagar Vaghasiya, has joined McIntosh & Son's northern group, working with its Geraldton, Merredin, Moora and Wongan Hills branches.
While new to his Moora base, Mr Vaghasiya is not new to precision farming or the technology involved.
Having recently completed his master's degree in Agricultural Engineering at the University of Southern Queensland, Mr Vaghasiya worked with GL Water Services - a southwest Queensland irrigation consultancy, where he specialised in creating farm maps and analysing the performance of bankless irrigation designs.
Although he enjoyed the work, Mr Vaghasiya has a focus on precision farming and applied for the McIntosh & Son regional role, believing precision farming is where the future of agriculture lies and he wants to be a part of it.
"I really think Australia is leading the charge when it comes to investing in farming technology," Mr Vaghasiya said.
"The labour rates are high, so we rely more on improving the machinery and investing in technology to do the job well.
"The next five years in agriculture will be interesting to watch, especially in Australia, as I can see that the adoption of productivity-enhancing new platforms and systems will really take off."
Mr Vaghasiya grew up on farmland in India, driving tractors for more than eight years.
"I would work for people and see that they had dodgy lines and bad productivity, so I spent my time mapping and creating headlands to increase their productivity," he said.
"The feeling you get once you see the results is awesome and I knew that helping farmers increase their productivity was what I wanted to pursue.
"That's why this role excited me, I get to combine my experience, knowledge and interests."
McIntosh & Son regional precision farming manager for the northern group, Josh White, said Mr Vaghasiya had hit the ground running when it came to finding data solutions.
"Sagar is brilliant with data management and I can see that connecting PLMi (Precision Land Management intelligence) will be his niche," Mr White said.
"When someone has had data that is not easy to convert and connect with PLMi - Sagar has made it happen."
Mr White said this has been helpful with a recent Woodside Energy project.
"We're working with Woodside on a carbon-credit tree-planting project and they had data that had not been able to work with their MyNewHolland (customer portal providing problem-solving, services and information access).
"Sagar dug his teeth in and manipulated their data so everything can now connect, which was no easy task," Mr White said.
"He's been a real asset to the team."
Having already spent time onfarm with local growers, Mr Vaghasiya is excited to get farmers started on their precision farming journey.
"I see a lot of growers struggle with setting up their systems, so I have started adding easy-to-follow tutorials to the McIntosh & Son YouTube channel," he said.
When asked what should be in a successful grower's toolboxes this harvest, Mr Vaghasiya said he believes the IntelliView 12 screen (New Holland's new in-cab tractor screen), MNet (McIntosh & Son's premium RTK service) and a CropScan 3300H protein meter were the tools for the job.
"New Holland's IntelliView 12 screen has such a user-friendly interface, it's easy to find everything, and it's easy to export data," he said.
"Running your tractor on anything less is like trying to use iPhone 3 technology when your tractor is an iPhone 12 - there's just too much data to be able to process that quickly.
"MNet is fantastic, the idea that Josh has been pushing throughout the State in recent years to connect your GPS through the internet makes so much sense.
"You can have accurate data in real-time because of the direct access to internet - as opposed to RTK which would start dropping out after 10 kilometres or so.
"And finally, I think CropScan protein meters will have big spike in demand over the next few months.
"It's so important to have access to insights into the quality of the grain you are harvesting, so you can get the best price on the market.
"Without it, you can't know your default rate of protein and the quality of your grain."
Mr Vaghasiya will be at the Dowerin Machinery Field Days next week with Mr White talking to visitors in the McIntosh & Son display about precision farming.
